Ben Cherry

BIOGRAPHY

Ben describes his main subject focus as environmental photojournalism, capturing nature’s beauty and how humans are affecting it. He first became interested in photography when he was eleven, building on a lifelong love and interest for nature, which combined into his passion. Constantly developing, he has had success in international competitions as well as having stories published in international magazines. Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a Zoology degree, Ben is now starting a career where he combines his science and photographic interests to inspire conservation efforts. In his own words, this is what he tries to convey "I love capturing moments that tell a story and taking landscape pictures that depict the essence of a location. I attempt to get the viewer to feel the way I felt when I took the image – it’s about experiencing the wonders of the natural world and how we relate to it.”

COMMENT

I first moved to the X-Series because of its weight and space saving abilities over SLRs. Most of my work requires me to carry my equipment over long periods in often hostile environments, the equipment has to be rugged but also portable, allowing me to take everything I need with space to spare for essentials, while still not being overburdened and affecting my ability to work for long periods from hours to days or even weeks at a time. But it wasn’t until I got under the skin of the system that I realised how it is so much more beneficial than that. Having the manual controls at your finger tips, such as the shutter speed, aperture ring and exposure compensation dial instead of an electronic function makes for a much more immersive experience. Combining all of this with superb lenses, high quality sensors and ever-improving autofocus capabilities, makes the X-Series a complete system for my work.

Now that many news agencies are moving towards jpeg only files, the film simulations offered with the X-Series are becoming more and more relevant, even if you aren’t given a requirement like this, the ability to have files more than suitable for sharing straight out of camera dramatically reduces editing and streamlines your workflow, vital for photographers working to deadline and on the move.

The Fujifilm X-Series has brought a breath of fresh air to my photography. Bringing a fine balance between keeping my photography focused around the fundamentals, minimising distractions, with dedicated controls at my finger tips; but also integrating industry leading features, like OIS, EVFs and image processing that help me to efficiently hone my style.